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How to Apply to PhD Programme

Applying to undertake PhD research at the Department of English at University of Galway

***Details on how to apply to do a PhD in English ***

These are the types of PhD that you can do in English:

Structured PhD:
Most of our PhD students are doing a Structured PhD. This is a four-year programme. The main focus is research and writing, culminating in the completion of a thesis, but students also take a number of taught modules that are designed to facilitate professional and scholarly development. Students work closely with a supervisor or supervisory team.
Practice-based PhD:
You can do a practice-based PhD in either creative writing or digital arts and humanities. This kind of PhD has two components. The larger part of your project will be your creative or practical work (e.g. if you are doing a creative-writing PhD you might be writing a novel or a collection of poems; if you are doing a PhD in digital arts and humanities you might be creating a digital resource). The second but integrated part will be scholarly/critical/academic. Students work closely with a supervisor or supervisory team.
Please note that for the purposes of your formal application, the practice-based PhD is usually (although there can be exceptions) considered as a kind of Structured PhD, so you will formally apply for the Structured PhD.

Pure-research (traditional) PhD:
You can also do a PhD, usually over four years, in which you focus exclusively on your research and writing, culminating in the completion of a thesis.
Part-time PhDs:
There are also part-time options (where the PhD is completed in six years) in relation to these programmes.

Applications to the Structured PhD programme are made via our online system at Ellucian Login Further information can be found  here.

Further information:

Current PhD Projects in English at University of Galway:  Current PhD candidates in English 

Guides to writing a research proposal: There are numerous books and also websites that provide advice on the process of planning, designing and conducting research.  It is a good idea to consult a sample of these before your organise your own proposal.
Some examples are give below:

1. Illustrative example from the first paragraph of a successful research proposal
“This thesis aims to expand our understanding of the Irish harp as a key cultural signifier in 18^th- and 19^th-century Ireland. Using a combination of sociological and literary analysis, it will contextualise the position of the harp in relation to the ideological, political and economic structures of the period. More specifically, it will trace the various visual, literary and musical representations of the harp alongside an examination of the harp as an actual object of musical performance and as an economic commodity. A particular focus will be given to the harp’s evolving role within Irish nationalist discourse from the period of the United Irishmen (and the crucially important Belfast Harper’s festival of 1792), to the Sinn Féin movement of the early twentieth century.”

Note the power of the short declarative verbal expressions: This thesis aims to expand our understanding of the Irish harp as a key cultural signifier in 18^th- and 19^th-century Ireland. Using a combination of sociological and literary analysis, it will contextualise the position of the harp in relation to the ideological, political and economic structures of the period. More specifically, it will trace the various visual, literary and musical representations of the harp alongside an examination of the harp as an actual object of musical performance and as an economic commodity. A particular focus will be given to the harp’s evolving role within Irish nationalist discourse from the period of the United Irishmen (and the crucially important Belfast Harper’s festival of 1792), to the Sinn Féin movement of the early twentieth century.”

2. Illustration of research questions
“The thesis will pose the following specific questions:

·         What are the specific ways that the figure of the Irish harp been mobilised in Irish discourse, and with what purpose and effect? Were there variations in the cultural meanings of the harp among different socio-economic and political groups? What factors might explain these variations or evolutions?

·         What is the relationship between literary/iconographic representations of the harp, and the manufacture, performance and reception of the harp as a musical instrument? How did economic and sociological factors affect the role of the harp as popular performance instrument? How do these material factors relate to the literary, scholarly and iconographic representations of the harp?

·         To what extent does the position and meaning of the Irish harp enable us to understand the general evolution of Irish nationalism in the period?”

3. Description of the relationship of the proposed thesis to existing research

·         Describe briefly what you know of the existing field already, showing that you know what the major works in the field are at present, and what you need to read

·         Do not give bibliographical lists or footnotes – discuss and briefly evaluate the scholarship in plain prose, perhaps categorising by theme or chronology

Suggest how your work will EXTEND and/or CHALLENGE this work (what are the gaps and problems in the existing field that you will address?)

Illustration
“The iconographic and ideological significance of the Irish harp has not been explored in a comprehensive interdisciplinary context to date. Some excellent musicological examinations exist, such as Colette Moloney’s recent synthesization of Bunting’s collections which deals authoritatively with one specific area, but is therefore limited in range. While Joep Leerssen has expertly examined the creation of a ‘self-image’ of Ireland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the prominence of the harp as an agent in the formation of culture, ideology and society is not a central concern of his. Barra Boydell’s research into the iconography of the harp offers interesting overviews; however much of his information on the subject comes from the visual or historical. In no case are the theoretical perspectives of semiotics and feminist theory deployed.”

You might also like to consult the James Hardiman Library and our Resources page.